I started blogging in July of 2009 and I’ve been encouraged by the positive feedback from my readers to continue blogging well into the next decade. In case you don’t know, I have a WordPress.com blog called Ms. Ileane Speaks where I offer tips for blogging, podcasting, Twitter promotions and talk about “anything else that comes to mind”.
Since I was new to blogging at the time, I had no idea what the difference was between the various free services like Blogger and WordPress.com, so I started this blog to discover the advantages of each platform and to keep track. The whole concept was actually a challenge from my long-time friend Kissie who remains committed to her Blogger appropriately named Ohhh....K! but gave in and created a blog on WordPress.com too called Say Whatever I Like. I'm very thankful that she encouraged me to start this project and we help each other every day.
As I began to consider my blogging goals for 2010 I thought about changing the focus of this blog or eliminating it altogether. In the end, I decided to continue this blog with the goal of helping other new bloggers, or newbies as they like to call us, to become familiar with the features of WordPress.com, Blogger and perhaps other free blogging platforms like Posterous. I’d also like to promote this blog more, with the hope that through the use of video tutorials and comparison articles, I can make the decision process that much easier for the next newbie to come along.
One tip that I would like to share now with the readers of this blog (newbie or not) is the benefits of joining the Blog Engage community of bloggers. Blog Engage a site exclusively dedicated to helping bloggers. Here’s the description from Brian, owner of Blog Engage:
Take a look at the video I created 2 weeks after joining the Blog Engage community in November. This is by far the most popular video on my YouTube Channel.
Let me know what you think, or share your resolutions and blogging goals for 2010. If you are a new blogger who has questions, share them with me and if I don't know the answer, I'll help find it.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=d7bdab21-d2ff-4589-b9c1-ee605e6a0876)
As I began to consider my blogging goals for 2010 I thought about changing the focus of this blog or eliminating it altogether. In the end, I decided to continue this blog with the goal of helping other new bloggers, or newbies as they like to call us, to become familiar with the features of WordPress.com, Blogger and perhaps other free blogging platforms like Posterous. I’d also like to promote this blog more, with the hope that through the use of video tutorials and comparison articles, I can make the decision process that much easier for the next newbie to come along.
One tip that I would like to share now with the readers of this blog (newbie or not) is the benefits of joining the Blog Engage community of bloggers. Blog Engage a site exclusively dedicated to helping bloggers. Here’s the description from Brian, owner of Blog Engage:
Blog Engage allows you to submit your Blog Article(s) that will be reviewed by all and will be promoted by me or our visitors to the main page.
Take a look at the video I created 2 weeks after joining the Blog Engage community in November. This is by far the most popular video on my YouTube Channel.
23 comments:
That is certainly a great tip for newbies and more experienced bloggers alike, Blog Engage is a great place to share, network and learn.
All the best for 2010 Ms. Ileane.
Hi Karl,
Thanks for visiting! I'll see you around Blog Engage.
I like BlogEngage but I am concerned about the integrity of the voting. My posts get a good amount of votes, but the traffic and comments to my blog don't match the votes at all. I think folks are simply clicking vote, vote, vote and not actually reading the posts. If this is the case then it isn't really driving traffic and will become just like Digg or Stumble which is unfortunate because Brian has put so much work into creating such a great platform and forum.
You've got a great thing going! I can't share my goals yet, because they aren't published. But I did write a column ABOUT blogging goals, if that helps. :) Here it is:
http://win-with-1.com/blogging-goals-2010/
Ms. Freeman,
How are you tracking your visitors? Google Analytics?
I think this is something that should be mentioned in the forum. Have you signed up for it yet? If not I'll post a thread to see if other members have this issue.
Alison,
Thanks. I'll check out your post too.
Yes, we have to do something about the comment section on this site for starters, I had to click on the "date" to post this comment.
Although I read your post and intended to expound on that, I started reading the other comments first. Boy, I'm glad I did and I wish a Blog Engager would create that topic (See Mrs. Freeman's) in the forum....come on now, I have a Twitter widget on my page and I also have Blog Patrol on my page - so I KNOW the votes I receive could have only been earned by the snippet on the BE page or because it's just what they do - VOTE.
I'm glad you decided to keep your Blogger page but please don't promote my WP.com too much, we never know who I may write about and that's the place where I may offend and won't care. ;-)
Seriously though, the newbies like me will surely benefit from your determination to learn and to teach. Now let me get on over to Blog Engage and do some voting!
I'll post a thread for you guys in the forum. I'm not seeing the same discrepancy in my stats, but let's see what the other members say.
I'm working on a solution for the commenting problem but I haven't heard back from my contact with the info yet. Should have it soon though!
Thanks.
I see the discrepancy, too, and it's just one of the shortcomings of "Web 2.0" - it's a popularity contest. But if you look at who votes for what, and get to know those bloggers and whether you find them credible, or they share interests with you, it may still be somewhat useful.
The usefulness of ratings is something that's been hotly debated for over a decade, and there will always be some who figure out how to game the system. But so what? If you don't take the ratings seriously, if it even brings in a 10th of the folks voting, it's still publicity and it's still community building - IF you want it to be.
Hi Ileane,
I'm sure goal setting is valuable for a lot of people but personally I don't have any specific blogging ones for 2010. I really enjoyed blogging in 2009 ( starting in June ) and am sure that will continue to be the case in 2010 thanks in no small part to yourself and other active members at the excellent BlogEngage. If enjoyment continues all my "goals" are achieved I think!
Well, I understand Ms Freeman's concerns about the BE voting process - and to some extent share them.
My own BlogEngage reading/commenting/voting routine is to
(i) read through a lot of introductions
(ii) only visit the site/post if I think it will be of real interest/value to me
(iii) comment if I feel I have something useful to add
(iv) vote for virtually all of the posts from blogs that I enjoy/respect/am happy to promote in some small way
So although I may well vote for a post without reading more than the description - I am very aware of the author and the blog .... and feel that a vote in this case is a quick positive help to that blog ( which I know I'll be visiting/reading/commenting on again soon) without any loss of integrity.
Or not?!?
Cheers
Will
Holly and Will,
Thanks for visiting my "other" blog and offering your support.
If you would like to continue this conversation about Blog Engage votes, please join my thread in the forum so you can see what other members are saying and share your views.
The forum link for the topic "Votes without Visits" is; http://www.blogengage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=1079&p=5216#p5216
Thanks Ileane , I'll take a look tomorrow - must start visiting the forum more often as well! Will
Hey Ms Ileane! Great to see you again, and looking forward to hear more from you!
Helping out others is indeed a good goal, and one you should always set for yourself!
Check out my next post today or tomorow for more on the topic ;-)
Ok, just tweet me when the post is ready. Thanks.
Blogengage is an aweosome community for all of us bloggers. I use it all the time ever since I joined a few months ago.
I wonder if there are any similar communities like blogengage????
Hi Ileane :)
Helping others is a great blogging goal. Actually it's pretty ironic because this weeks word challenge is about helping others.
I think you are one of the most amazing people I have met online. I love your positive attitude and if people need help they should be happy it's you helping them.
Thanks so much for supporting our community and me the past year. I look forward to another year with you ms. ileane :)
Brian, it’s nice of you to take time out to visit. I entered the weekly word challenge with another post about helping others. I’m proud to be a member of this fantastic community that you have started. It’s been a blast.
Thanks
Hi Ileane!
Its grea to know we are going to get this blog as an aid for new bloggers. Expecting more to come up in future.
Thanks Suresh. If there's anything I can help you with,please contact me on Google Voice from the Contact Page at the top.
Great article, its very informative, been looking for something like this for a while. I'll be following along with more posts, I look forward to studding more posts.
Its grea to know we are going to get this blog as an aid for new bloggers.
That is very nice of you to help out new bloggers in their journey to the world of blogging. Hope you can help me out too. Thanks!
My blogging goal for this year is to get my main blogs going!
Post a Comment